Honoring Teachers Across the Nation and the Globe

Over the past month, we have been thrilled to see just how many families in the United States appreciate the teachers in their lives and have chosen to thank them with a gift of Beads for Learning Bracelets! This gift has been doubly valuable as it not only shows honor to the recipient but has benefited the school children in East Africa immensely. The profit from these bracelets goes directly to fund teachers’ salaries in rural Africa and to improve education there. Thanks in part to a wonderful article in Kiwi Magazine, we have sold more than 555 Beads for Learning Braceletsat www.leakeycollection.com in less than a month.

Read what Katy Leakey says:

TLC: Education is obviously very important to The Leakey Collection. What changes have you seen since the inception of the Beads for Learning program?

Katy: Not only have the extra teachers reduced the student teacher ratio, but parents are seeing an improvement in their children’s performance. Parents have also been able to send more than one child to school. As a result, we are seeing more girls receive an education.

TLC: What is the current ratio of students per teacher near you?

Katy: It is now between 35 & 40:1 whereas when we started, it was 80-1.

TLC: What are the future plans for teachers/education because of the contributions from TLC?

Katy: Any new teachers will have higher qualifications. In time, we will work with existing teachers to improve their skills.

TLC: Did you have a special teacher in your life? If so, what made them special?

Katy: My 4th grade teacher was the head librarian. She let me work in the library putting books back on the shelves, and I fell in love from that first moment with books, libraries, and the vast, mysterious, adventurous, far-reaching world through the written word. I was forever “hooked,” and still am, on books and libraries. As an artist, I create illuminated pages, and when I trace back to my first seeds of passion for the magic of books, it began with the lovely, shy, retiring woman (whose name escapes me some 48 years later) who let me roam the narrow library aisles in the small grammar school in my hometown.